Pope Benedict has released his letter to the Irish people on the abuse crisis. As I read the entire letter two parts struck me very forcefully. Section four deals with some of Benedict's ideas as to how the prevailing culture impacted the spread of the abuse, and the last section with his ideas on concretely addressing the crisis.
4. In recent decades, however, the Church in your country has had to confront new and serious challenges to the faith arising from the rapid transformation and secularization of Irish society. Fast-paced social change has occurred, often adversely affecting people’s traditional adherence to Catholic teaching and values. All too often, the sacramental and devotional practices that sustain faith and enable it to grow, such as frequent confession, daily prayer and annual retreats, were neglected. Significant too was the tendency during this period, also on the part of priests and religious, to adopt ways of thinking and assessing secular realities without sufficient reference to the Gospel. The programme of renewal proposed by the Second Vatican Council was sometimes misinterpreted and indeed, in the light of the profound social changes that were taking place, it was far from easy to know how best to implement it. In particular, there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations. It is in this overall context that we must try to understand the disturbing problem of child sexual abuse, which has contributed in no small measure to the weakening of faith and the loss of respect for the Church and her teachings. (This section is all about focusing the light of the crisis on the Post Vatican II church. Unfortunately for Benedict the majority of the abuse had it's origin in the pre Vatican II church. This whole paragraph is an intentional red herring.)
Finally he ends this 5000 word missive with his concrete proposals:
14. I now wish to propose to you some concrete initiatives to address the situation.
At the conclusion of my meeting with the Irish bishops, I asked that Lent this year be set aside as a time to pray for an outpouring of God’s mercy and the Holy Spirit’s gifts of holiness and strength upon the Church in your country. I now invite all of you to devote your Friday penances, for a period of one year, between now and Easter 2011, to this intention. I ask you to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland. I encourage you to discover anew the sacrament of Reconciliation and to avail yourselves more frequently of the transforming power of its grace. (This is an exhortation to recommit to the special spiritual power of the sacramental priesthood. It is a call for the sheep to follow as before, as if the betrayal of this whole concept had never happened.)
At the conclusion of my meeting with the Irish bishops, I asked that Lent this year be set aside as a time to pray for an outpouring of God’s mercy and the Holy Spirit’s gifts of holiness and strength upon the Church in your country. I now invite all of you to devote your Friday penances, for a period of one year, between now and Easter 2011, to this intention. I ask you to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland. I encourage you to discover anew the sacrament of Reconciliation and to avail yourselves more frequently of the transforming power of its grace. (This is an exhortation to recommit to the special spiritual power of the sacramental priesthood. It is a call for the sheep to follow as before, as if the betrayal of this whole concept had never happened.)
Particular attention should also be given to Eucharistic adoration, and in every diocese there should be churches or chapels specifically devoted to this purpose. I ask parishes, seminaries, religious houses and monasteries to organize periods of Eucharistic adoration, so that all have an opportunity to take part. Through intense prayer before the real presence of the Lord, you can make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm, at the same time imploring the grace of renewed strength and a deeper sense of mission on the part of all bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful.
I am confident that this programme will lead to a rebirth of the Church in Ireland in the fullness of God’s own truth, for it is the truth that sets us free (cf. Jn 8:32). (Wow, talk about back to the very past that engendered this mess. Again this is a symbolic reaffirmation of the notion of the special spiritual power of the priest. The truth is Eucharistic Adoration can be accomplished in any church in which the consecrated host is present--and without all the pomp and clerical dress.)
Furthermore, having consulted and prayed about the matter, I intend to hold an Apostolic Visitation of certain dioceses in Ireland, as well as seminaries and religious congregations. Arrangements for the Visitation, which is intended to assist the local Church on her path of renewal, will be made in cooperation with the competent offices of the Roman Curia and the Irish Episcopal Conference. The details will be announced in due course. (With all due cynicism I suspect the final report will probably be plagiarized from the report on US seminaries and will focus on gay priests.)
I also propose that a nationwide Mission be held for all bishops, priests and religious. It is my hope that, by drawing on the expertise of experienced preachers and retreat-givers from Ireland and from elsewhere, and by exploring anew the conciliar documents, the liturgical rites of ordination and profession, and recent pontifical teaching, you will come to a more profound appreciation of your respective vocations, so as to rediscover the roots of your faith in Jesus Christ and to drink deeply from the springs of living water that he offers you through his Church.
(Why not a nationwide synod that actually includes lay people? Guess Benedict wanted to put a stop to that kind of thinking so he proposes a nationwide clerical Mission.)
In this Year for Priests, I commend to you most particularly the figure of Saint John Mary Vianney, who had such a rich understanding of the mystery of the priesthood. “The priest”, he wrote, “holds the key to the treasures of heaven: it is he who opens the door: he is the steward of the good Lord; the administrator of his goods.” The Curé d’Ars understood well how greatly blessed a community is when served by a good and holy priest: “A good shepherd, a pastor after God’s heart, is the greatest treasure which the good Lord can grant to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy.” Through the intercession of Saint John Mary Vianney, may the priesthood in Ireland be revitalized, and may the whole Church in Ireland grow in appreciation for the great gift of the priestly ministry. (Just in case we weren't getting the gist of things, Benedict spells it right out. There will never be a rethinking of the priesthood on his watch. Just a rehashing of the fantasy.)
I take this opportunity to thank in anticipation all those who will be involved in the work of organizing the Apostolic Visitation and the Mission, as well as the many men and women throughout Ireland already working for the safety of children in church environments. Since the time when the gravity and extent of the problem of child sexual abuse in Catholic institutions first began to be fully grasped, the Church has done an immense amount of work in many parts of the world in order to address and remedy it. While no effort should be spared in improving and updating existing procedures, I am encouraged by the fact that the current safeguarding practices adopted by local Churches are being seen, in some parts of the world, as a model for other institutions to follow. (This only applies to efforts which don't touch on the priesthood.)
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Benedict did encourage Irish bishops to report abuse to civil authorities, but did not mention anything about changing the canonical norms they all followed that led them to 'misunderstand' the Vatican's intentions about Pontifical secrecy. Benedict probably should have instructed the laity to report to the civil authorities before one word was uttered to clerical authorities because that's the only way a victim will ever get any kind of transparency.
It's a mystery to me as to why this visitation will only include some dioceses. I wouldn't be shocked if those dioceses are the very same ones that the Irish government has already investigated or is slated to investigate. Keeps the bad press to a minimum.
I think Pope Benedict is attempting the impossible. Rather than really address the problems of the priesthood he is trying to return to the very past notions of priesthood which generated this whole mess. That is actually one very good definition of insanity--constantly repeating the same failed strategies expecting a different outcome. Clerical sexual abuse is not a product of today's permissive culture. It has been a cancer in the Church for centuries and centuries. It's was various forms of clerical abuse which spawned the Reformation, that resulted in the reforms of the monastic communities in the twelve hundreds, that fueled the Inquisition, that resulted in the abuses heaped on indigenous populations.
The problem with clerical abuse is at it's root it is about the artificially exalted power of the clerical caste. It is not really about sex. The sexual expression is just a symptom. Benedict will never address the root issue because he has benefited enormously on a personal level and seems incapable of seeing this problem, much less addressing it. In this respect he is like Hitler holed up in his bunker while Berlin exploded around him. Benedict too seems to be an absolute dictator so trapped in his cherished fantasy he is unable to deal with reality. I suppose this is why we are exhorted to Eucharistic Adoration and Confession while Catholicism circles the drain.
